Postmodernism
Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)?
Advertising can break a company irrespective of the quality of the product they are selling, a poor quality product can be successful with great advertising and a excellent product can fail without it. Now, the media reality of advertising determines the success of products.
The characters of Bruno and Borat are seen as 'real' people and are able to get away with saying and doing things that a 'real' person could not. Sacha Baron Cohen is only interviewed in character so they have a voice but he does not.
In X Factor, contestants perform a copied version of a song that has been covered already.
2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?
Jameson argues that as mediaization increases so the culture finds itself losing a sense of historical context. History is now reduced to 'talking heads' documentaries and historical knowledge is often based on media representations. This links to Deutschland 83 because is is a period drama about the events in East and West Germany and the audience would believe everything they are told but not all things are true.
3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?
People are influenced by branding and often would pay a high price for a product because of it's label and ignore the idea that the product may not be of good quality.
The rise of celebrities launched through reality TV such as Big Brother can be seen as the culture celebrating style over substance. Many celebs are now famous for being famous rather than for talent or ability.
Examples used include Paris Hilton and John and Edward, Jameson also argues that this creates a cultural depthlessness. Like Baudrillard he sees the culture as being one where meaning is lost and all that is left is surface representation. However, he argues that this is sometimes countered by claims for extreme moments of intense emotion like when a celeb has died and there is a shared cultural grief. He says that this is the way of replacing the shallowness of 'style over substance.'
4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?
High art was removed from popular culture, high art such as opera and ballet and theatre were only accessible to the elite groups while low art was for the masses.
Andy Warhol created multi-coloured prints of the Mona Lisa (High art) and Campbell's soup cans (low art).
Pop music (low art) often samples classical music (high art).
Advertising (low art) often makes references to visual art (high art) or uses classical music (high art) to help sell it's products.
This links to Deutschland 83 because East and West Germany had clear differences, West side lived a more lavish lifestyle which consists of high culture. Where as East Germany did not have similar goods like West did, they were poorer but continued to bring in high culture in the East.
5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?
The idea of mixing references is referred to as Bricolage (meaning jumbled). Bricolage refers to the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas or narratives to create a new meaning.
6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.
Deutschland 83 does not use meta-narratives and does not explain the way the world is how how it should be which would attract a wider audience. Postmodernism denies that there can be any single truth or realities because most of our cultural understanding is based on the personal interpretations we make from the media representations that dominate our culture, therefore grand narratives are too simplistic and too narrow in their approach. However, Deutschland 83 follows classical representations and structures because their main character is a strong male who is intelligent. Some of the audience pleasures include surveillance and personal identity.
Advertising can break a company irrespective of the quality of the product they are selling, a poor quality product can be successful with great advertising and a excellent product can fail without it. Now, the media reality of advertising determines the success of products.
The characters of Bruno and Borat are seen as 'real' people and are able to get away with saying and doing things that a 'real' person could not. Sacha Baron Cohen is only interviewed in character so they have a voice but he does not.
In X Factor, contestants perform a copied version of a song that has been covered already.
2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?
Jameson argues that as mediaization increases so the culture finds itself losing a sense of historical context. History is now reduced to 'talking heads' documentaries and historical knowledge is often based on media representations. This links to Deutschland 83 because is is a period drama about the events in East and West Germany and the audience would believe everything they are told but not all things are true.
3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?
People are influenced by branding and often would pay a high price for a product because of it's label and ignore the idea that the product may not be of good quality.
The rise of celebrities launched through reality TV such as Big Brother can be seen as the culture celebrating style over substance. Many celebs are now famous for being famous rather than for talent or ability.
Examples used include Paris Hilton and John and Edward, Jameson also argues that this creates a cultural depthlessness. Like Baudrillard he sees the culture as being one where meaning is lost and all that is left is surface representation. However, he argues that this is sometimes countered by claims for extreme moments of intense emotion like when a celeb has died and there is a shared cultural grief. He says that this is the way of replacing the shallowness of 'style over substance.'
4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?
High art was removed from popular culture, high art such as opera and ballet and theatre were only accessible to the elite groups while low art was for the masses.
Andy Warhol created multi-coloured prints of the Mona Lisa (High art) and Campbell's soup cans (low art).
Pop music (low art) often samples classical music (high art).
Advertising (low art) often makes references to visual art (high art) or uses classical music (high art) to help sell it's products.
This links to Deutschland 83 because East and West Germany had clear differences, West side lived a more lavish lifestyle which consists of high culture. Where as East Germany did not have similar goods like West did, they were poorer but continued to bring in high culture in the East.
5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?
The idea of mixing references is referred to as Bricolage (meaning jumbled). Bricolage refers to the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas or narratives to create a new meaning.
6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.
Deutschland 83 does not use meta-narratives and does not explain the way the world is how how it should be which would attract a wider audience. Postmodernism denies that there can be any single truth or realities because most of our cultural understanding is based on the personal interpretations we make from the media representations that dominate our culture, therefore grand narratives are too simplistic and too narrow in their approach. However, Deutschland 83 follows classical representations and structures because their main character is a strong male who is intelligent. Some of the audience pleasures include surveillance and personal identity.
7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task.
Ideology - Even though there are protagonists they are seen to be doing bad things that the villain would do in order to succeed with their mission.
Genre - A conventional approach has been used because the men represented are seen as strong individuals who are 'heroes' where as the women do not have the same significance as men.
8) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?
There are aspects of postmodern by blurring the line between good and evil because there is such a complicated narrative and that it is not easy for good to win.
9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?
The best example is when Martin is going through training in order to be the perfect spy. Martin and his training breaks down the differences between between culture and society between East and West.
10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?
The mix of high and low culture acts as entertainment for audiences as well as Bricolage and Pastiche. Audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects and approach because it provides a different perspective.
Ideology - Even though there are protagonists they are seen to be doing bad things that the villain would do in order to succeed with their mission.
Genre - A conventional approach has been used because the men represented are seen as strong individuals who are 'heroes' where as the women do not have the same significance as men.
There are aspects of postmodern by blurring the line between good and evil because there is such a complicated narrative and that it is not easy for good to win.
9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?
The best example is when Martin is going through training in order to be the perfect spy. Martin and his training breaks down the differences between between culture and society between East and West.
10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?
The mix of high and low culture acts as entertainment for audiences as well as Bricolage and Pastiche. Audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects and approach because it provides a different perspective.
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